Grand National 2018 Tips

The best expert tips for the 2017 Grand National at Aintree

Everyone has a chance of picking the winner of the Grand National and almost half of those that bet on the race will choose their horse by its name. If you can’t decide which horse you want to back, use the tools on our Grand National Tips page such as the Random Grand National Winner Generator or simply sit back and let the Experts at Timeform point you in the right direction with their insight on the big race.

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Front runner who gained reward for his consistency when winning a listed handicap chase at Ascot in February. Potentially on a good mark in this race but unlikely to stay this distance if repeating usual forcing tactics.

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Jamie Lynch

Weights and measures, stamina indices and jumping models are all an increasing and important part of the Timeform playbook for finding winners, but a race like the Grand National can be as much about gut feeling, and that’s where I am with Blaklion. It’s not only that, of course, because Blaklion ticks a couple of big statistical boxes, namely class (last year’s RSA winner) and ratings (better off with Vieux Lion Rouge from their close match at Haydock), but it’s the feeling that he’s going to relish the National course, facing it for the first time, which really sends me towards him.

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His jumping technique and run style, in conjunction with his hungry attitude, makes him the perfect fit for the Grand National, and it’s significant that Nigel Twiston-Davies by-passed Cheltenham with him this time around to fine-tune him for Aintree.

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Michael Williamson

Alongside stamina, the big thing to consider when narrowing your shortlist for the National should be how well a horse jumps. Using a model developed by Timeform, a value for a horse’s jumping performance within each race is calculated and used to come up with a jumping rating. The underlying data that powers this is provided by Timeform’s team of expert race readers who meticulously study every runner in a race to digitally profile how they ran.

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Narrowly topping 2016 runner up The Last Samurai at the head of the jump ratings list for this year’s Grand National is Stellar Notion, now trained by Henry de Bromhead who excels with developing a horse’s jumping technique. Still relatively unexposed in staying chases and having more than held his own in some of the top Irish handicaps this season with form behind National Hunt Chase winner Tiger Roll and Ultima third Noble Endeavour, he looks well worth consideration.

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Ben Fearnley

We were reminded once again this season of just how good Gordon Elliott is at setting up horses for the big occasions when Cause of Causes landed his third consecutive win at the Cheltenham Festival.

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Many will fancy Cause of Causes to run well in the National, but Elliott’s main horse for that particular day this season has surely been Ucello Conti, who ran a good sixth in last year’s race despite a bad mistake at the nineteenth fence. His excellent yard will have got to know him better this season, and his build-up towards another crack at the race has been pleasing enough, with in-the-frame efforts in the Becher Chase, the Thyestes Chase and the Leinster National in 2016/17. He could go a lot closer this time around.

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Adam Brookes

I’m going to offer up Highland Lodge who I think is way overpriced at 50/1.

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We know he loves the National fences as he won last season’s Becher Chase on his first start for Jimmy Moffatt and was a cracking second to subsequent Haydock Grand National Trial winner and current National favourite Vieux Lion Rouge. I can see him getting into a good rhythm up front and I certainly think he’s worth another go over an extreme trip. What’s more, unlike last year when he controversially missed the cut, he’s guaranteed a place in the starting line-up.

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Phil Turner

Grand National history Is littered with examples of one-time Grade 1 performers who revive at Aintree after rather losing their way – last year's 33/1 winner Rule The World being a prime example.

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In some regards O'Faolains Boy is a risky betting proposition to even make the line-up on April 8th given his training problems in recent years (scratched at a late stage from this season’s Hennessy when among the favourites), but he’s sure to be one of the best-handicapped runners if he does and current odds of around 66/1 are well worth chancing given the spark he still showed on occasions last season.

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The 2018 Grand National will take place at Aintree Racecourse, Liverpool, on Saturday 14th April and like the 2017 renewal, will be sponsored by Randox Health. The 2017 renewal – shown on ITV – achieved a 62 per cent peak share of TV viewers, equalling the modern record for a commercial TV station, and over 8 million people watched Scottish-trained One For Arthur take the prize under Derek Fox for Lucinda Russell.

The racing at Aintree begins on Thursday – otherwise known as Grand Opening Day – while Friday is Ladies Day. Up to 40 horses line up in the Grand National on Saturday, a race which has seen a number of upsets since it was first run in 1839, when aptly won by a horse called Lottery. As recently as 2009, Mon Mome landed odds of 100/1, the same price as Foinavon who, in 1967, benefitted after the rest of the field fell, refused or were hampered or brought down in a mêlée at the 23rd fence. Since 1984, that obstacle has been known as the Foinavon jump one of 30 Fences that the horses must successfully navigate over the Grand National race distance of four miles and 514 yards.

Whether you back a horse because of its Grand National odds, the colour of the jockey’s silks, or because of the horse’s name, everyone has a chance of betting on the winner of the historic race. Look around these pages to get the lowdown on the Grand National Runners and riders, to get Grand National Free Bets, or to get the best Timeform Grand National Tips and Latest News ahead of the 2018 Grand National. You can also to find out where to buy Grand National tickets, how to get to Aintree racecourse and the best places in Liverpool to stay.